You currently have javascript disabled. Several functions may not work. Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality.

The Lord Ruler's perfect capital city, Luthadel, is doing the impossible: rebelling. Skaa half-breeds are being taught the power of Allomancy, something that the Lord Ruler's obligators said only existed in the nobility. The enslaved skaa, with their murderous benefactor, now fight back against a living god's oppression.

So, the Inquisition was formed. The nobles begin to fear assassination from all sides. The times of nobility Mistborn killing each other are over. The Steel Inquisitors look for aristocrat traitors and insurgent skaa, and the skaa try with all their strength to merely survive. The Lord Ruler's perfect Final Empire is slowly devolving into chaos.

Marcus is a fairly average man in many respects, not too tall and not too short, his features are those of any number of different people that one might see in a crowd and forget mere moments later. This is both a blessing and a curse for the man, and he has come to accept his shortcomings and overcome them. He has dark hair and dark eyes, his face rarely shows a smile except when needed to and he can often be seen scowling, either from annoyance or when deep in thought. He has a slight build and is clearly not built for combat, instead relying on his guile and intelligence to avoid harm.

With regards to his personality, there could be said to be 2 Marcus Sortells: The one that Nobles see, and the other seen by Skaa. With other nobles, Marcus is charming and quietly intelligent. He has developed an uncanny insight into body language as part of his training with Brass, and as such is very much a listener rather than a speaker, relying on fewer words but preferring to make them count. When it comes to the skaa however, Marcus is as vicious as he is loud. He has come to hate the skaa and sees them as entirely unnecessary, a mere drain on the resources of the Empire which might be better spent elsewhere, and he is not afraid to make that fact known to many.

Strengths: Expert negotiator, he understands people and can manipulate them well, although not always successfully. A quick wit and a flair for language, very self-confident.

Weaknesses: Combat, Reacting to danger, Supreme self-confidence means he can sometimes be surprised, doesn't react well to unexpected pressure.

Parents – Marell and Josephine Sortell
Year of Birth – 887

Marcus’ upbringing was stereotypical for a noble living in the Northern Dominance, his parents doted on him but there was a certain sternness, particularly from his father who had grown up as the second son to his brother, the leader of House Sortell. As a cousin of the main family, Marcus didn’t have as much as his cousins would have, but nevertheless he was well off and benefitted from a good education, as well as exhibiting an early ability to manipulate and subvert those around him. This trait was noticed by his father who then set about trying to devise a way of testing his son to see if he had the potential to use any of the mystical metal-powers of alomancy, plans that would almost cause a rift within the family that wouldn’t heal.

Marcus was sent out to the market one day to pick up some odds and ends for his father when he was ambushed on his way back, and kidnapped by a group of skaa rebels who then proceeded to try to ransom him back to his parents. While the kidnapping had been planned by Marcus’ father, the subsequent ransom had not, and he suddenly realised his mistake, fighting within himself about whether he should pay for his son’s release or not. It was only when his wife, Marcus’ mother, threatened to reveal his mistake to the entire Sortell family that his father swallowed his pride and paid the price for his son’s release. All did not go to plan however, as the rebels took the money and ran, trying to kill Marcus in the process by planting a dagger into his side and leaving him for dead. It was almost the end of the young man, and he only just survived the encounter but ever since, he has harboured a vicious and unrelenting hatred for the skaa as a whole…that and the ability to use Brass allomancy.

After his snapping and near-death experience, Marcus spent the next few months recovering and researching emotional allomancy, trying to better understand the new power he had been given and work out ways in which he could use it to his advantage. He soon realised that it was a perfect complement to his natural persuasive skills and, along with his inherent ability to read people and manipulate them as a result; he could combine his new skills with his older knowledge to become something greater than before. He threw himself into practicing with Bronze, spending hours upon end working and improving himself and his abilities until he felt he was finally ready to offer his services to the larger family.

When he told his Uncle of his abilities, he was immediately brought into the family business as a negotiator, tasked with visiting other nobles and mingling with them at functions to try and persuade them to offer contracts to the Sortell family. He has only been in the job for a short time, but has already decided that it is his calling…and he loves it.

Marcus stepped from his carriage and looked up at the manor that loomed above him, hiding any outward signs of the effect which the building had on him. Although he knew that the balls in Luthadel would be far grander and held in far larger keeps, he was still struck by how big the building seemed to him from the outside, even though it was 'only' a manor.

His nerves were only heightened by the fact that the party he was going to was being held for him.

This is your last appearance in Urteau for Lord Ruler knows how long…you may never see these people again, so don’t do anything you will regret.

Letting out a breath that he hadn’t noticed he had been holding, the man walked up the stairs and through the entrance to the manor, feeling a wave of warmer air wash over him as he stepped over the threshold. Sliding out of his cloak, Marcus handed it off to a servant without looking and strode forwards, projecting confidence with his steps as he moved assuredly towards the entrance to the Grand Hall of House Sortell's main home. A plastic smile affixed itself to his face as the man walked into the dining hall, ignoring the butterflies that were twittering in his abdomen as he made to greet the various nobles who had gathered to bid him farewell. He moved past people, nodding at them as he made his way towards the table at the ‘head’ of the room, at which his family stood waiting for him. He reached the table and moved around to his place, leaning down to kiss his mother on the cheek as he passed her. A hush fell over the crowd as Marcus raised a hand, unscrambled his thoughts and began to speak.

“I just wanted to thank you all for coming tonight. I will miss all of you when I am in Luthadel, but hopefully I will see you again soon.”

Seating himself, the man watched as he saw many others do the same, while others spread out into small cliques as the gentle buzz of conversation began to fill the cavernous hall. Marcus had no illusions; most people were not here to see him off so much as to enjoy an excuse to break out their fancy clothes and eat someone else’s food, but then again he had been thoroughly against the idea of having any sort of occasion to highlight the fact he was leaving. His father had overruled him however, and had liased with his brother, the head of the family, to arrange for the party to be held at in Marcus' honour.

A vain statement; we can afford to send our eligible men to the capital of the Empire and highlight that fact. Not my preference, but when father sets his mind to something, there is little arguing with him.

Marcus ate some of the first course brought to him but found that the food did him no favours, and so he waved away any further edibles as he stood up and set about mingling. Surveying the room, he saw an old friend, Barclay, off to the side with some people he only vaguely recognised and made his way over to the group, subconsciously examining the reserves of brass in his system as a way of calming his nerves. As he approached, Marcus reached out towards the men that Barclay was talking with and tried to supress any suspicion or surprise at his approach; his allomantic touch as soft as he could manage as he flashed a smile towards the group and nodded towards his friend.

“I’m glad you could make it Barclay, but I’m afraid I don’t recognise your two friends and was hoping we might be introduced?”

Soothe away any suspicion, I’m just an unsuspecting noble, no smarter than your average party-going moron…no need to worry about me.

“Wouldn’t miss it Marcus and these two men are Anthony and Karl, both of House Zathriel. We were just discussing some business, but it can wait for the moment. Are you nervous about going to Luthadel?”

“Pleased to meet you gentlemen, apologies that it is happening on my last night in the Northern Dominance. Well, I would be idiotic to deny any nerves whatsoever, but I feel confident that I will find my feet in the capitol without too much trouble.”

A plastic smile to match the vague untruths he had passed on to the Zathriels; he was leaving in several days, but they didn’t need to know that.

“Anyway, I need to go and mingle with other guests and thank them for coming. Hopefully I will see you later Barclay, gentlemen.”

Someone needs to know that there are information brokers here and, despite how close I might have been with Barclay before, I cannot rely on him not to say something that shouldn’t be said.

Putting that information somewhere in his mind for a later time, Marcus quashed any instinct of reacting to that new information, and instead set about working the room. After all, he had to be seen to be enjoying his going away party, even if he just viewed it as a practise run for the intrigues of the Luthadel Court.

His life was about to get much more complicated, that much was certain.

I like Marcus. He seems to be a fairly well rounded and believable character, and you've got a good feel for noble life and culture.

Two things.

First of all, Soothers use Brass, not Bronze. Bronze is used by Seekers. It's a simple fix, but obviously necessary.

My second issue is a little larger (but not much) and involves your use of House Sortell. First of all, make sure you've cleared your use of it with Will, who plays Wyldan, and is the house's out of character head. Next, there are some details that need to be clarified. The Sortells are also an information house (they run a secure and discrete courier service) and thus, in your RP sample, Marcus would be more likely to distrust the Zathriels because they are rivals, since the Sortells house also deals in information. If this is what you meant by his distrust, you might want to make the reasoning more clear. Also, the Sortell's are a niche house, with a socioeconomic rating of 4.0. This means they are quite a bit below the station of high house, and would not be able to have a keep in Urteau. They'd likely have a manor, or perhaps a townhouse in Urteau and a manor in the nearby country instead. You'd have to ask Will which it is, or if he had something else in mind. No matter what though, it is highly unlikely the Sortells would have a keep.

Once you fix these things up, Marcus will be well on his way to acceptance. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns and I'll do my best to help you out.

Point 1 - Note to self, don't write these things when half asleep. I've corrected all the mentions of Bronze and put Brass instead.

Point 2 - I'll answer this one piecemeal:
I do have permission from Will (real life friend) and he has said that it's fine for me to be a member of Sortell.

Also, the Sortell's are not so much an information house as couriers of goods. We wouldn't count as information brokers, rather delivering items (mostly information in paper form, but not always) and take pride in honouring our clients secrets. As such, we wouldn't really see the Zathriels as rivals as they aren't quite the same, they would be wary of them but not anything like a rivalry if that makes sense (I double checked this with Will and he said that it's fine, his explanation is the one given above).

I removed mention of a Keep and changed it to manor, that one was simple ignorance on my part as to the socioeconomic levels and their meaning.